March 29, 2012

Registration material for religious school 2012-13 is now available. We have kept tuition the same but added a Registration/Snack Fee for the coming year. The fee is reduced depending on how early you register (the early bird deadline is Tuesday, May 15). It is important that you register early so that we can get an idea of how many students to expect in a class and how many books to order (book ordering needs to be done in the early summer).

• Welcome Letter 2012-13 school year
• 2012-13 Registration Form
• 2012-13 Medical Form

The 5^th grade class will be taking a field trip to the zoo on Sunday, April 1 to learn about kosher and non-kosher animals. Please send your children to religious school promptly at 9:00 a.m. so that we can leave on time.

Please note that there is religious school on Tuesday, April 3. It was left erroneously omitted from the calendar. There is no religious school Sunday, April 8 or Tuesday, April 10 in observance of Passover.

On Tuesday, April 17, the 7^th and 8^th Graders will be leading a Yom HaShoah service for the religious school from 5:45-6:00 p.m. in the Library. Parents are encouraged to attend.

Save the Date: 3^rd Grade Consecration (Kabbalat Siddur) is Friday, April 20 at 5:45 p.m.  The 3^rd Graders will be leading the service and will be presented with their own prayer books. This will be followed by a festive meal in Cantor Falkow Lounge. Flyers about the dinner will go home with your children on Tuesday.

Teachers’ Classroom Recaps:

Kindergarten – Elana Weiner

This week we had our very own chocolate seder! We went through the whole seder and learned The Four Questions. Don't forget to ask your kids to sing those at their seders next week; they are all very excited!

1st Grade – Renee Hulsey

It was wonderful to see everyone at Religious School this week. We continued learning about the upcoming holiday, Passover. It was a very busy day. The students practiced The Four Questions. They also learned a few Pesach songs including Dayenu. Ask your child if they remember the three things mentioned that "it was enough" in the song. Lastly, we started going through the seder: learning the order of what happens during our Passover meal. Have a wonderful week!

2nd Grade – Emily Riley-Saxton

This week we continued learning the story of Exodus and the symbolism and traditions of Passover. This coming Sunday we will be watching The Prince of Egypt in class. We will also be having our normal Sunday schedule including minyan and tefillah. The children are very excited about the movie, and I look forward to a good discussion afterwards.

3rd Grade – Laura Olesen

The Third graders have been learning this week about Passover: the history, preparations and the songs! In addition, they have been learning in Hebrew (prayer building blocks), of which they should also have a practice page that they brought home. We’ve also been focusing on preparing for their consecration and rehearsals. They all looked great for the photos! Keep up the good work!

4th Grade – Rebecca Grossberg

The 4th grade continued its study of Jewish History.

5th Grade – Jesse Muller

The 5th grade discussed the life-cycle event of becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah. They are looking forward to their trip to the zoo on Sunday to learn about kosher and non-kosher animals as well as the Hebrew names of the animals.

6th Grade – Layni Direnfeld

This week we have been gearing up for Passover by learning prayers and songs associated with the holiday. We have also begun our prophets unit by learning about the two historical divisions between the prophets and the functions and characteristics that define each.

7th – 8th Grade – Joel Kanter & Jessica Cooper

The 7th & 8th grade continued working on their Yom Hashoah program that they are leading on Tuesday, April 17.

Rabbi Ben Herman